Marshall Creek (Near Dallas TX) - Listed By The Sierra Club

What future nature?
Sierra Club lists state's natural spots, their threats and salvation
12/28/2002
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
Far out in southwestern Dallas County, where new homes are crowding out old
native oaks, open land is still available, but for what future -
construction or conservation - no one knows.
And in Denton County, a piece of parkland marked with off-road vehicle
tracks also awaits a decision. In Tarrant County, a bit of wooded wetland
survives despite the pressure of surrounding development.
The same uncertainty confronts natural spots all over Texas, the Sierra Club
says in a new report. The organization tapped some of its 23,000 members in
Texas to identify many of the state's "special places," as well as the
threats they face and possible means of saving them.
The places range from the state's watery northeast at Caddo Lake to its
hard, dry southwest at Big Bend. In between are coastal marshes and Hill
Country canyons, as well as nearly a dozen sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area.
The threats run the gamut from water wars to suburban expansion - a
phenomenon that is consuming about one square mile of Texas' open space
every four days, according to some estimates.
In some cases, the group says, only state or federal action will protect the
endangered resources. But in others - including all of the urban North Texas
tracts - the solution is likely to be a local one: a city or county land-use
decision, or land acquisition by a local government or conservation group.
Endangered species
Some tracts are part of the historical habitat of endangered species, such
as the hilly Cedar Hill area, where a black-capped vireo might still sing in
some isolated spot.
"As long as we keep losing these spaces, we're going to lose a lot of these
species," said Rita Beving, conservation co-chairwoman of the Dallas Sierra
Club, one of the local Sierra groups that contributed to the report.
"There's also an innate human need for open space."
Longtime Dallas conservationist Dick Bartlett cataloged many Texas spaces in
a book, Saving the Best of Texas. The Mary Kay vice chairman said qualities
such as a spot's natural beauty must be balanced with its natural function -
such as the biological diversity that a place supports.
"These are values for nature that actually are values for people, too," Mr.
Bartlett said.
The Sierra Club's local list includes several tracts in the southwestern
corner of Dallas County, a hilly area that is already home to such preserves
as Cedar Hill State Park and the Dallas Nature Center.
In that part of the county, the flat or gently rolling prairies of North
Texas merge with land more typical of the Texas Hill Country. Like all such
places where habitats merge, the area supports a rich offering of native
species.
Spots on the list in southwestern Dallas County include:
. Cedar Hill State Park, which covers 1,826 acres by FM1382. The park
includes patches of native prairie that have become all but extinct as the
metropolitan area has grown.
. The Dallas Nature Center, a 633-acre mixture of public and nonprofit
ownership with hiking trails and educational programs.
. Dogwood Canyon, envisioned as a 252-acre preserve for the protection of
rare species and habitat types. The Dallas County Audubon Society is trying
to raise $7 million to buy the land.
Others on list
Three tracts on or near Mountain Creek Parkway, totaling 1,014 acres, serve
as important habitat or buffer areas for the wildlife species that use the
area.
Two other Dallas County areas also made the list: the Great Trinity Forest,
the hardwood swamp along the Trinity River south of downtown Dallas; and
lower White Rock Creek, which feeds the river.
In Denton County, the club identified areas in or near Flower Mound and
Trophy Club that also represent increasingly endangered natural areas. And
in Tarrant County, a spot near the Fort Worth Zoo also made the list.
The list is part of a statewide Sierra Club effort called the Wide Open
Spaces campaign, intended to nurture public, political and financial support
for land conservation. Raising public awareness is the most important part
of such campaigns, said Mr. Bartlett, who's active in the Texas Nature
Conservancy.
"All that effort might be for naught if you don't have an educated citizenry
to carry it on," he said.
E-mail rloftis@dallasnews.com

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